Former actor and “Blade Runner” screenwriter Hampton Fancher is the subject of Michael Almereyda’s documentary “Escapes,” opening at Bay Area theaters on Friday, Aug, 18.

Former actor and “Blade Runner” screenwriter Hampton Fancher is the subject of Michael Almereyda’s documentary “Escapes,” opening at Bay Area theaters on Friday, Aug, 18.

Photo: Grasshopper Film

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In ‘Escapes,’ creator of ‘Blade’ runs wild with his riveting life stories

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The beginning of “Escapes” feels like a mistake, as if an unfinished reel of footage from another movie somehow made it into the projector.

The movie opens with just the voice of Hampton Fancher, sharing stream-of-consciousness memories from his career as an early Hollywood role player, accompanied by a montage of 1960s television clips that loosely match the conversation topic. Fancher doesn’t show up in physical form until the 26-minute mark.

But director-editor Michael Almereyda has simply chosen to match filmmaking style with his subject, a raconteur whose storytelling approach is like jumping on a moving train in the dark. The result is an unconventional and layered portrait of a complicated talent.

I can see why Almereyda would devote an entire film to such a little-known talent. I agreed about a decade ago to interview Fancher, now 79, before a screening of “Blade Runner,” which he co-wrote and executive-produced. During the pre-screening dinner and pre-movie conversation, he threw out so many eclectic life stories — he was raised in a Chicano ghetto, worked as a ditch digger while dating actress Teri Garr, learned to be a flamenco dancer in Spain, was a copy boy at a newspaper — that it was easy to falsely assume he was making half of it up.

In an attempt to keep the harness off this free spirit, Almereyda paces his documentary at Fancher’s confident, deadpan, occasionally heartfelt and somewhat manic speed. Audiences coming for “Blade Runner” stories slowly will realize the things they don’t know about Hampton Fancher are way more interesting than what he has to say about the 1982 film. (Which is not much. Although Fancher co-wrote the upcoming “Blade Runner 2049” sequel, he still seems a little rankled that they rewrote his original “Blade Runner” script.)

A half-dozen true Hollywood stories are presented in “Escapes,” all offered in a matter-of-fact style that seems detached from typical celebrity brand-building and false humility. Fancher offers details about his romance with Barbara Hershey, which intersected awkwardly with her time dating David Carradine. His friendship with ill-fated “Flipper” star Brian Kelly is another gem.

But he offers equal weight to a tale about a press tour for a movie everyone else has forgotten, and his bittersweet romance with a young movie production assistant who was craving comfort and affirmation.

As the unconventional film clips continue, this particular story ends as poignantly as a good 1970s Hollywood romance. “Escapes” also helps explain why we’ve seen so little of Hampton Fancher. His brain simply works too fast and too independently for the rest of the industry to understand.